House Republicans Elect Mike Johnson As Speaker Of The House

House Republicans finally decided on a leader today, electing Rep. Mike Johnson – a little-known conservative from Louisiana – as the new Speaker of the House. All 220 Republicans present voted for Johnson, and all 209 Democrats voted for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

Elected to Congress in 2016, the virulently homophobic Mr. Johnson is the most junior lawmaker in decades to become speaker. From the New York Times:

An evangelical Christian, Mr. Johnson is the former chairman of the Republican Study Committee and sponsored legislation to effectively bar the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity at any institution serving children younger than 10 that receives federal funds.

He served on former President Donald J. Trump’s impeachment defense team, played a leading role in recruiting House Republicans to sign a legal brief supporting a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 election results and was an architect of Mr. Trump’s bid to object to certifying them in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.

Since most folks have never heard of Johnson before today, here’s a bit of who he is and what he stands for (or against): • Opposes same-sex marriage (and called being gay a “bizarre choice“) • Introduced legislation inspired by Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law • Cosponsor of at least three bills that would ban abortion nationwide • Argued that if women just gave birth to more “able-bodied workers,” Republicans wouldn’t have to try cutting Social Security and Medicare • Voted against the January 6th Commission and has said he sees the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021, as a “legitimate protest” https://twitter.com/HRC/status/1717241070285668456 https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1717245960072630374 https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/1717245782120693985